Breaking News from ASCO's Annual Meeting — Physician’s First Watch

Breaking News from ASCO's Annual Meeting

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is holding its annual meeting in Chicago. Here are highlights from some of the phase 3 trials presented over the weekend:

In the PREVAIL trial, roughly 1700 men with metastatic prostate cancer who had received androgen-deprivation therapy but not chemotherapy were randomized to receive daily enzalutamide (an androgen-receptor antagonist) or placebo. At 12 months, radiographic progression-free survival was higher in the enzalutamide group (65% vs. 14%).

In TEXT and SOFT trials, roughly 4700 premenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive early breast cancer were randomized to the aromatase inhibitor exemestane or tamoxifen. Both groups received ovarian suppression. At 5 years, disease-free survival was significantly higher in the exemestane group than the tamoxifen group (91.1% vs. 87.3%).

In the POEMS trial on preserving fertility, some 200 premenopausal women with hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer were randomized to receive chemotherapy with or without monthly injections of goserelin, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist. The 2-year premature ovarian failure rate was lower in the goserelin arm (8% vs. 22%). In addition, more pregnancies occurred in the treatment group.

I believe the PREVAIL results were actually an increase in radiographic disease-free survival, not "lower" as suggested in the summary (maybe a little typo?). The trial was stopped early because of strong results, wasn't it?

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